1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a method and an apparatus for attempting to access a network, and more particularly, to a method and an apparatus for attempting to access a network based on a network service provider identifier in a mobile terminal.
2. Description of the Related Art
Wireless communication systems generally support a communication service for a mobile terminal in an environment in which a plurality of service provider networks exists. To this end, a wireless communication system may perform channel scanning in order to provide network access to a mobile terminal. For example, a mobile Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) system performs channel scanning for reconstruction and selection of a network by using a Contractual Agreement Preference List (CAPL) item of an Open Mobile Alliance-Device Management (OMA-DM) Tree.
The CAPL item includes a Network Access Provider IDentifier (NAP ID) for identifying a network service provider, a priority of the NAP ID, and information on related channels and policies. Herein, a NAP ID priority refers to a priority of a network service provider that a terminal refers to when the terminal accesses a network. Further, when different channels are allocated to network service providers, the priority of NAP ID may refer to a priority of a channel of each network service provider.
Specifically, in a channel scanning operation in a conventional mobile WiMAX system, a mobile terminal makes a channel list for each network service provider by using a NAP ID and a priority of the NAP ID. Based on the generated channel list, the mobile terminal performs channel scanning and attempts to access a network.
For example, when a NAP ID corresponding to a scanned channel has a highest priority among channels in the channel list, the mobile terminal instantly attempts a network access to the channel having the NAP ID of the highest priority. If the attempt to access the network through the channel having the highest priority NAP ID fails, the mobile terminal attempts to access the network through the next channel in the list according to NAP ID priority. In this manner, the mobile terminal scans all the channels in the channel list until the mobile terminal succeeds in accessing a particular channel.
However, the channel scanning method as described above may require significant time in order to access the network. For example, if a channel that the mobile terminal can successfully access is located at a lower part of the channel list, the mobile terminal may waste significant time by attempting to access other channels first.